Klassik 213 Artikel

With Solo Piano, Glass presents himself "unplugged" - no electronic keyboards or synthesizers, and no overdubs, either - just solo piano.

One of the most striking documents of Italy’s Minimalist movement, Giusto Pio’s "Motore Immobile" is a masterwork with few equivalents. Produced by Franco Battiato in 1979, at the outset of a long and fruitful period of collaboration between the two composers, and issued by the legendary Cramps Records, its triumphs were met by silence, before falling from view.Emerging on vinyl for the first time since its original pressing, "Motore Immobile" now sits within a reappraisal of a large neglected body of efforts made by the Italian avant-garde during the second half of the 1970’s and early 80’s. It is singular, but not alone. It resonates within a collective world of shimmering sound, one familiar to fans of Battiato, Lino Capra Vaccina, Luciano Cilio, Roberto Cacciapaglia, Francesco Messina and Raul Lovisoni.An exercise in elegant restraint - note and resonance held to the most implicit need. Where everything between root and embellishment has been stripped away. A sublime organ drone, against interventions of deceptively simple structural complexity - executed by Piano, Violin, and Voice. A sonic sculpture reaching heights which few have touched. A thing of beauty and an album as perfect as they come. The reemergence of Motore Immobile heralds what is unquestionably one of the most important reissues of the year.

During an interview recorded at the KPFA Radio Steve Reich and John Gibson introduced an East Coast performance of Steve Reich masterpiece “Four Organs” as well as an exciting recording of Ghanian drumming which the artist recorded in Ghana. They also introduced the music of Philip Glass, playing a tape of his historical Music in Similar Motion.

Henrik Schwarz and !K7 are proud to announce a collaboration that will bare many different musical fruits. The first of these is a brand new label called Between Buttons, curated by Henrik and focused on acoustic sounds and contemporary compositions. Between Buttons will be in partnership with !K7’s own neo-classical hub 7K!, and will kick off with a new mini LP by Schwarz entitled Works Piano, followed by an EP entitled Aphorisms by Syrian artists Khaled Kurbeh & Raman Khalaf Ensemble. Mixing up old and new technologies, experimental and more classical approaches, the label will see Schwarz forge new paths in his own work, as well as curating material from the peers he has worked with over the last 15 years. Mainly made up of acoustic sounds, piano, string quartets, self-built instruments, percussion and intriguing classicist elements with a modern twist, there will be EPs from piano virtuoso Bugge Wesseltoft, as well as other electronic producers wanting to show themselves in a different, more 'unplugged' light. “In these times of constant turbo mode, likes and thumbs-up, we need to go back to basics,” says Henrik. “We want to move away from the idea that relentless hasty productivity is a must, and instead take time to create space, to let ideas mature and to focus the mind on subtler sounds.” Works Piano will be a four track mini album that uses a Yamaha Disklavier as the starting point and reimagines it, reworks it and alters it with various digital and recording technologies. One track is a created with a reactive algorithm and one is composed purely from altered and processed piano sounds.

Composer and Golden Globe winning Jóhann Jóhannsson releases his first album for Deutsche Grammophon Recordings. It feels like a meditation over beauty and creativity Jóhannsson is a role model for the growing scene of contemporary composers who draw their inspiration from soundtracks, Minimalism, Ambient und electronic music. “Orphée describes the way out from the dark into the light inspired by mythical variations from Ovid to Cocteau. It’s the story of death and reincarnation as a metaphor for our society. Again Jóhannsson mixes acoustic elements combined with electronics, mysterious soundscapes paired with orchestral and a capella voices.

According to the master’s 80th anniversary 3rd of October 2016 Deutsche Grammophon presents the iconic recording from 1974. “Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ“ was recorded 1974 in Polydor-Studios Hamburg. 40 years later this great recoding finally gets officially re-released. The record contains liner notes of Steve Reich and photos. This is a limited run of 2500 copies. The records are pressed to 180g vinyl including a download code.

Near the end of the old millennium, someone once rapped, "Being futuristic these days means being futuristic on your own terms," which is entirely fitting when said rapper records an album of solo piano instrumentals. (Perhaps less instructive is what said rapper went on to say: "Being futuristic means loving worms, saving your sperm, wearing your pubes in a perm.") The former Chilly Gonzales has a hint of Gershwin in his playing, an urbane, contemplative take on the blues that sometime turns into a wry smile. He also has a hint of Satie, the spare and haunted sound of a music box turning slowly to a halt as it comes to the end of its wind. But what he also has is entirely his own, which not only makes this the best album of solo piano instrumentals by a rapper extant but also one of the finest solo piano albums not by a jazz or classical performer. Obviously, there's a duality to any man who lit up stages with Peaches but also played with and produced Jane Birkin and Charles Aznavour, but Solo Piano is a disarmingly wonderful record. - allmusic.com

Parisian DJ and producer Kiddy Smile embodies the lifeblood of house music past and present. His music flashes with nostalgia for those mid-80s New York basements where house music first came alive. ‘Teardrops In The Box’ pulses with the intoxicating energy of a Ball in Kiddy’s native Paris, with its deep-rooted traditions but its intensely forward-focussing culture.Following up on his fearsome debut ‘Let A B!tch Know’ on Defected, Kiddy Smile has deployed the well-established remixing capabilities of Mystic Bill, a house champion from the underground schools of Detroit and Chicago. His ‘Jersey Dub’ eases back on the tempo for a syncopated strut to The Garden State, while the ‘Vocal Mix’ is a bulkier prospect, emphasising Kiddy’s growling vocal with some serious attitude bass. Finally, his vinyl-exclusive ‘Acid Mix’ is specifically designed for getting twisted on dark, underground floors. Cowbell and raw synths give ‘Teardrops In The Box’ unadulterated dancefloor credentials but this is more than a club record; the layers to this track run deep.

Verwundete Schönheit offenbart sich im von elektronischen Störungen undVerzerrungen überwölkten Gesang von Ian William Craig. Kosmische Dronesund zerebrales Pochen werden zu astraler Strahlenmusik verwoben.Gregorianische Choräle schrauben sich in halluzinogene Höhen, um danachwieder an Ambientufern zu versprudeln. So erwächst ein fragiler Chor ausAbstraktion und intimer Sinnlichkeit, der sich in dunklen Momenten zuunterbewusster Monstrosität auswächst. Erstaunlich souverän wechselt Craig,der eigentlich Gesang studiert hat, wieder zu Liebesliedern, die sanft undausgezehrt zu uns lispeln.

“(...)The compositions of this record represent attempts at new means of musical expression. Some utilize conventional musical instruments and sounds in startlingly new ways, giving an impression of an actual “new” sound being created; some use instruments new to music (electrical, mechanical and natural) adding to the composers’ palette of timbres and tonalities. (...)This record is meant as a tool for those using new sounds and techniques in composing. There are basic sounds (some of which are hard to come by) and basic sound patterns, together with examples of how these sounds and patterns may be utilized (...)”Sounds of New Music is a legendary collection of 18 compositions from the 1920s to the mid-1950s representing attempts at a “new means of musical expression.” Composers include Edgard Varèse, Henry Cowell, and John Cage, whose “Dance” is played on a transformed Steinway piano that gives the music an almost primitive quality.

“Three Worlds: Music from Woolf Works” is the new album by Max Richter. The album is based on the Woolf Works compositions, originally created for the London Royal Ballet production of choreographer Wayne McGregor. This was production was inspired by the work and life of Virginia Woolf.Max Richter (1966) is a German-born British composer who has been an influential voice in post-minimalist composition and in the meeting of contemporary classical and alternative popular musical styles since the early 2000s. Richter is classically trained, having graduated in composition from the Royal Academy of Music and studied with Luciano Berio in Italy.Richter is well known for his prolific output: composing and recording his own music; writing for stage, opera, ballet and screen; producing and collaborating on the records of others; and collaborating with performance, installation and media artists. He has recorded seven solo albums and his music is widely used in cinema.

This stunning 20th-century piano music was inspired by national traditions but uses the language and form of Western music. It compiles music by AMIRAM RIGAI, MANOLIS KALOMIRI, PAUL BEN-HAIM, ILHAN MIMAROGLU, ANDRE AMINE HOSSEIN and ANIS FULEIHAN."In the countries of the Near East, as in any other country where occidental culture is adoptive, musical composition modeled after its occidental counterpart came into being out of an intellectual necessity: that of nding a substitute for a traditional music which, under the dictate of its very essence, resisted evolution and was consequently in decay.It was logical, as far as both the ideals and the basic methods of this process of substitution were concerned, that the fashioning be done after the examples of the national schools of the late nineteenth-century Europe. The rst stream of the westernized near eastern music was therefore romantic (or post-romantic, or impressionist) in its overall gesture. Regardless of the composition date of each individual opus, all of the works recorded here fall into this category: music inspired by national traditions (musical, or other), displaying at least that intangible called “national character” whenever a national element is not evident, but employing a language and a medium belonging to western music (...)" (original liner notes)

John Cage and Christian Wolff's self-titled 1962 LP was an early showcase of both 20th century composer's experimental chops, and is highly regarded as some of their finest work. Cage's piece, which spans the whole of side 1, was originally composed in 1960, and like many of his pieces, would never be performed the same way twice. It involves the overlaying of transparencies to create the "score", while performers manipulate phonographic cartridges in a variety of ways to create amplified sound. To add to the effect, this particular performance is actually the superimposition of four performances. In all, it is a truly groundbreaking piece of 20th century classical. Wolff's side, while less extreme, is equally innovative, and a window into his particular pointillist vision of music.

A stunning collection of quiet and soft piano pieces by the legendary German keyboardist Hans-Joachim Roedelius co-founder of seminal krautrock bands as Cluster and Harmonia. Inspired by the monumental work of Eric Satie, the album was originally released in 1991, and is recommended for fans of Max Richter, Goldmund and Sylvain Chauveau. 45RPM Audiophile Edition. Contains the bonus track “In Der Dämmerung”.

Nach ihrem gefeierten Konzert beim Acht-Brücken-Festival in der Kölner Philharmonie im Mai 2016 veröffentlichen die 6 Pianisten Gregor Schwellenbach, Hauschka, Erol Sarp (Grandbrothers), Daniel Brandt, Paul Frick (beide Brandt Brauer Frick) und John Kameel Farah ihre moderne Interpretation von Steve Reichs "Six Pianos", einer Originalkomposition von 1973, auf Tonträger, und ergänzen sie um Terry Rileys "Keyboard Study #1".

Alfred Schnittke, Edison Denisov, Sofia Gubaidulina, Oleg Buloshkin, Eduard Artemiev. “(...)Please, try to imagine a score sounding by itself without a conductor, orchestra even without musical instuments. This magic is possible by using musical synthesizer “ANS”. “ANS” is an instrument with which a composer can not only create but even draw his music without notes and orchestra. A Soviet scientist Evgeni Murzin spent about 20 years to create this apparatus which can join together three processes: music creation, recording and performing. All these processes are rather complicated. You can see twinkling of different lamps, rotation of gured discs made of glass. Notes are cut on a glass disc covered with a special layer. The drawings on the glass are “sounding notes”. To listen to the drawn picture you should press the button and a wonderful transformation will begin. E. Murzin dedicated his apparatus to A. N. Scriabin, that’s why he called it ANS. A. N. Scriabin the creator of the “Poem of Ecstasy” used in his works a highly chromatic new type of harmonic style designed to express his beliefs, views and wishes. Soviet music lovers know already some recordings made on “ANS” for films “Into Space”, “Solaris”, “Mirror”, “Siberiade” and some others. Works of well known Soviet composers E. Artemiev, O. Buloshkin, E. Denisov, S. Gubaidulina, A. Schnittke featured on this LP were recorded at the Electronic Music Studio (...) From original Liner notes

Russian LP of electronic interpretations of ‘classical’ pieces by Claude Debussy and Monteverdi among others . Yuri Bogdanov features on every track, on some tracks together with Edward Artemiev, composer for Andrei Tarkovsky and others. Other tracks feature Vladimir Martynov.“The record is made on the basis of a kaleidoscope: it interspersed with pieces of various styles, genres and eras. For example, these pieces the authors wanted to show a variety of ways to use a synthesizer, starting with the direct simulation of now or once existing instruments, to the establishment of new not yet known sound systems. Thus, the record is like a small musical walk through time, we realized with SYNTHY100 synthesizer (...)” from original liner notes

Sunn 0))) member Stephen O'Malley debuts on Demdike Stare's imprint!The dark interpreter, Stephen O’Malley ov Sunn 0))), presents his towering debut orchestral composition ‘Guidés’; commissioned by French 35-piece improv orchestra ONCEIM - l’Orchestre de Nouvelles Créations, Expérimentations et Improvisation Musicales - and released thru Demdike Stare’s DDS label.In early 2014 O’Malley was approached by pianist and composer Frédéric Blondy to write a work for the orchestra, comprised of exceptional musicians from the fields of contemporary, jazz, experimental, improvisation and classical. Understandably intimidated by the prospect, but encouraged to “just be punk rock about it”, the preternaturally gifted composer has conceived a technically demanding - for the players at least - and richly rewarding longform drone piece intently focussed on harmonic experimentation and overtone study.During its 35 minute lifespan, ‘Gruidés’ requires the musicians to sustain pitches for several minutes (which is difficult enough for strings, and a real feat of endurance for woodwind), yielding a gloaming spectra of eliding dissonance rent in sliding tone clusters and lucent geometries punctuated by a similar whipcrack percussion as used in his Scott 0))) collaboration.It makes great use of the acoustic qualities of Saint Merry church, central Paris, as captured in the recording of IRCAM’s Augustin Muller and mastered by Matt Colton with a detached spaciousness evocatively distilled in the cover art by Jean-Luc Verna. It’s an incredibly immersive piece that comes highly recommended if you’re into the work of Phill Niblock, Alvin Lucier, Ellen Fullman, Harley Gaber and, indeed, Sunn 0))).

Joachim Roedelius gehört zu den Übervätern der Kosmischen Musik und des Krautrock. Mit seinenBands Cluster und Harmonia gestaltete er diese Musikstile maßgeblich mit. Heute blickt Roedelius aufeine über hundert Releases umfassende Diskographie zurück, und die Liste seiner musikalischenPartner reicht dabei von seinem langjährigen künstlerischen Weggefährten Dieter Moebius überinternationale Stars wie Brian Eno bis zu jüngeren Musikern wie Tim Story. Arnold Kasar ist fastdreißig Jahre jünger und ein Kind des Crossover im Berlin der 1990er Jahre. Er brach die Grenzezwischen elektronischer Tanzmusik und Jazz auf, er musizierte (und musiziert noch) mit Micatone,Nylon und Friedrich Lichtenstein. Bei ihren gemeinsamen Aufnahmesitzungen in Baden bei Wienentschied Roedelius sich sehr früh dafür, auch Klavier zu spielen. Kasar hatte die Idee, das Klavier mitFilz zu präparieren. So entstand der einzigartige, zarte, intime Klang des Albums. »Joachim[Roedelius] hat einen schönen, weichen Anschlag. Er hatte nie im Leben auch nur eine StundeKlavierunterricht. Es gibt keine Komposition bei ihm. Er macht etwas mit dem Klavier, was er auch mitden Synthesizern macht. Ich kann das nicht erklären, aber es bewegt etwas in mir.«

Claude Debussy (+1918) was one of the most popular and forward thinking composer associated with impressionist music. His innovative and at this time new way to compose music with non traditional scales and chromaticism inspired countless artists from the likes of Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. Remarkable attributes of his music were i.e. the usage of parallel chords, bitonality and many compositions of whole-tone and pentatonic scales and all this surely reminds us on contemporary electronic music where you hardly find limits or boundaries when it comes to traditional, harmonic sounding scale tone music.

Originally released in 1979 under the experimental label Cramps, “I Fiori del Sole” is a composition for organ and piano by the Italian duo Michele Fedrigotti and Danilo Lorenzini. The encounter between minimalist aesthetic and evocative religious atmospheres make this album one of the most interesting and obscure treasures of the Italian Minimalism. The album was produced by the legendary Franco Battiato with whom the duo Fedrigotti-Lorenzini collaborated the same year for “L’Era del Cinghiale Bianco.”

If you thought classical music was snobby and polished: give this a chance!"Infra" is the 2010 album by neo-classical composer Max Richter, released July 2010 on FatCat Records.

Er gilt als Lieblingskomponist von Wim Wenders, wird vom Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch sowieFernando Arrabal und Lars von Trier bewundert und hat schon mit dem legendären Regisseur PeterGreenaway zusammengearbeitet: Luca D’Alberto. Mit "Endless" legt der italienische Komponist undMultiinstrumentalist sein Debütalbum vor. Es erscheint - noch eine Premiere - beim 2017 frisch aus der Taufegehobenen Imprint 7K!, dem neuen Neoklassik-Unterlabel von !K7. Obwohl klassisch ausgebildet, istD’Alberto ein stilistischer Grenzgänger, der in seiner Musik nach neuen Ausdrucksformen sucht und dabeiherkömmliche orchestrale Instrumente und elektronische Klangerzeuger mixt. Passend dazu hat D’Albertoauf den insgesamt neun Stücken von "Endless" jedes Instrument selber eingespielt - von Piano undSynthesizer über Violine, Bratsche und Cello bis hin zu Violectra. D’Albertos passionierte, ausdrucksstarkeund soundtrackartige Neoklassik erinnert an Ludovico Einaudi und verbeugt sich sowohl vor Großmeisternwie Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, Max Richter und Ryuichi Sakamoto als auch musikalischenQuerdenkern wie Tricky, Tim Hecker oder Nils Frahm. Bei der Produktion wurde D’Alberto von Innervisions-Mitglied Henrik Schwarz unterstützt.Klassikradio (Late Night)Radio 1 Late Night LoungeRadio FritzBig FMFlux FMN-JoyByte FMHoradsAntenne DüsseldorfRadio ZusaRadio ZRadio Okerwelleu. a.Intro + FeatureGroove + FeatureSpexFazeWiredKulturnewsU-MagTip Berlin + FeatureSzene HamburgElectronic Beatsu. a.whitetapeswhiskey & sodabln.fméclat magplattentests.demixmaggrooveplattentestteleschautestspielu. a.Presse

REINHOLD FRIEDL's zeitkratzer proves the perfect ensemble for "Oneirika", avantgarde-veteran ELLIOTT SHARP's composition / soundscape inspired by CAGE-an tradition that premiered at MAERZMUSIK FESTIVAL 2014.

Krystian Zimerman (born 1956) is a Polish virtuoso pianist who has been hailed as one of the finest living pianists.He is especially known for his interpretations and recordings of Chopin’s compositions.

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2017!The 180g deluxe pressing comes with an additional lavish 32-page booklet in linen bound outersleeve and gold foiled font, printed inner sleeve and a digital download voucher!

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2017!"The Music Of Gurdjieff / De Hartmann" is the result of an extraordinary collaboration between the Greek-Armenian spiritual teacher, G. I. Gurdjieff and Russian composer, Thomas de Hartmann. Gurdjieff traveled for twenty years in the Middle East and Central Asia to discover and develop the teaching which now bears his name. Meditative and mindful, Gurdjieff’s music stems from Eastern melodies and music he heard in remote monasteries.From 1923 to 1929, Thomas de Hartmann worked closely with Gurdjieff at his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man outside Paris, translating into European notation the music Gurdjieff composed from his travels. The original tapes containing these tracks were recorded in the 1950s under informal circumstances with rudimentary equipment, never intended to be heard by the public. As for the instrumentation, the performance is stripped down to nothing more than a single piano (played by de Hartmann) but lacks absolutely nothing; rather de Hartmann uses the negative space between notes to revel in resonance, in turn capturing remarkable depth and meaning.Following the appearance of a track on LITA’s “I Am The Center: Private Issue New Age In America 1950-1990”, this material, out of print on vinyl for over three decades, could be considered the seeds that would eventually grow to become the roots of what we now think of as new age music. Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, who recorded the album G. I. Gurdjieff: Sacred Hymns for the ECM label in 1980, is among the artists to interpret this music since, but the tracks presented in this five LP box-set are the only recordings available of de Hartmann himself playing the music he and Gurdjieff composed. Also included are seven additional recordings, never before available on vinyl, including a talk by de Hartmann about Gurdjieff’s view of the music.This official Record Store Day 2017 release is limited to 1,000 copies only. The first ever vinyl reissue of these recordings, includes 7 bonus pieces never before on vinyl.All audio restored and remastered from the original analog master tapes. New artwork is featured on 5 deluxe Stoughton “tip-on” jackets and slipcase. This release also contains essay, archive photos and download card for MP3 of all 56 pieces. The final side features custom etching.

“Prehension ” is the new album of composer and pianist Joep Beving. Beving has been one with the piano from an early age. He was forced to end his musical studies at the conservatory and instead continued at university to get a degree in social sciences. However, his love for his instrument never perished. Where once his goal was to hit as many notes per minute as physically possible, his style of playing has changed over the years, searching for a particular aesthetic essence. His path was illuminated by a piano that Beving inherited from his grandmother when she passed away in 2009. This German instrument insisted on a more gentle touch and a gracious pace, which eventually led Beving to adapt to a more classical vocabulary to tell his story.Joep Beving is a composer and musician, but to the international advertising community he is mostly known as the face of music agency MassiveMusic.

Deutsche Grammophon presents the album “Room 29”, a unique collaboration between Jarvis Cocker and Chilly Gonzales.Standing at the west end of Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard, the Chateau Marmont hotel has seen many a famous and infamous guest pass through its doors since it opened in 1929. A 2012 stay in one of its second-floor rooms inspired British lyricist and singer Jarvis Cocker to look into its history and led to this collaborative project with multi-faceted Canadian pianist and composer Chilly Gonzales. “Room 29” is a 21st-century song cycle. Gonzales’ score and Cocker’s lyrics conjure up the lives of some of “Room 29’s” previous occupants, as well as shining a light on the glittering fantasy and often bleak reality of Hollywood.“Room 29” was recorded in Paris following its “work-in-progress” premiere at Hamburg’s Kampnagel in January last year.

This is probably one of the few essential recordings in contemporary classic music.

Portland OR’s Braveyoung return with a new album of somber instrumentals entitled Misery And Pride.While arranging the details for this release, founding member Isaac Jones was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. He has since recovered, and Braveyoung are eager for their long-awaited second album to see the light of day. The album unfolds like an ominous premonition of the turbulent years since its completion. Brooding drones and chamber string arrangements shape these stripped-down eulogies, but the menace of their punk roots remains. The album takes its name from text in Czech author Milan Kundera’s novel, Ignorance.

Originally released by Multhipla Records, The Entire Musical Work of Marcel Duchamp is a collection of experimental pieces composed in 1913 by the legendary artist, and executed by Petr Kotik and the S.E.M. Ensemble in 1976. Employing chance operations and non-musical sounds, Marcel Duchamp’s musical oeuvre predated some radical concepts developed forty years later by John Cage.

On 26 June 1983, Joe Jones set up a solar orchestra in Erik Andersch's garden in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Guests were invited for a dinner party to listen to the orchestra. The music was recorded and the event documented by various photographs that were published as a book by Jones in 1987 in an edition of 15 copies. The audio recording remained unreleased.This edition brings together the recording and an A4-sized reproduction of Jones' book. It is presented in a gate-fold PVC sleeve. Right-hand side holds the LP, left-hand side holds the book, a poster, and a postcard. Edition of 200.

German-born British composer Max Richter is launching his own record label, which kicks off with a 12″ of ‘On The Nature Of Daylight’, a classic track that was used recently in Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi thriller Arrival.

Recorded in Venice in 1961 by the French sculptor, painter, and iconoclast Jean Dubuffet, these recordings were originally released in a hyper-limited 10” box set that is all but impossible to acquire. An early progenitor of the avant-garde and musique concrete, Dubuffet’s recordings nearly defy category and still sound innovative some 50+ years later. Essential and unequivocal recordings from the founder of the Art Brut movement.

JOHN CAGE (1912-1992) is one of the most important composers in modern music: with more than 250 compositions, many of which are considered key works of New Music, and theoretical essays on composition he significantly changed the way we think about and perceive music today. But CAGE not only left a major impact in the academic world, he is also cited as an important inspiration by a wide range of diverse musicians from a younger generation, be it electronic producers, experimentalists or noise artists. His "Song Books", published 1970 in threevolumes, is a collection of open works that contains not only songs but a strange hybrid collection of compositions, graphic scores, meditation rules, experimental settings, absurd musical instructions, performance settings, musical references, and Fluxus-inspired actions such as eating fruits or drinking cognac (CAGE loved whiskey and cognac) ...;

Musician, visual artist, composer, writer, sculptor, Michael Snow is also one of the world’s most highly acclaimed experimental filmmakers. In 1975 he released this album under the record company Chatham Square. The label was founded by the owner of Michael Snow’s gallery, the Bykert Gallery, which also issued the first Philip Glass recordings. Released in collaboration with Michael Snow.

Recorded live by KPFA Radio in the halls of the sculpture court of the San Francisco Museum of Art on January 16, 1965, the day of 39th birthday of fellow pianist and longtime associate David Tudor, this historic concert with John Cage opens with a duet for Cymbal with contact microphones agitated by a wide gamut of objects and concludes with Variations IV in which loudspeakers outside the performance space interacted with speakers next to the audience. First release on vinyl for a very important piece in the history of minimalist music.

U has always displayed an unironic conformity to his own absolutely genuine / occasionally challenging ideal as to what a release should entail. After a series of predominantly, and (in the most loving sense) maybe begrudgingly, dance floor oriented EPs, ‘Vienna Orchestra’ is a long overdue insight into his core fascination as a musician; making complex and intriguing experimental pieces that belie the humble mode of their creation - recording from vinyl records and manipulating the audio on old school samplers. This LP is an insight into scores of hours of twiddling with loops and sequences to create music far removed from its source material (dusty classical records acquired on a trip to Vienna). This is a dense, blunted world, which holds the sound of a musician indulging their own ear’s obsessions and insatiable curiosity. The record’s opening is reminiscent of Walter Schumann’s ‘Night of the Hunter’ soundtrack in its deeply unsettling, creeping feel. The droning high strings in the background prick your ears while, in the foreground, oddly syncopated staccato stabs provide the loping, lurching feel. You could be forgiven for momentarily comparing this to some kind of oddball, Deep Puddle Dynamics-esque excursion… but then the fun begins. Throughout the record, the most consistently striking element is U’s masterful ability to, with the use of relatively simple EQs, filters and basic effects, turn familiar and fairly orthodox sounds into futuristic and daring electronic experimentalism. Forceful strings become ethereal and strange in their timbre, long, drawn-out notes are oscillated to create warped riffs or motifs and the imperfections of the physical format are treated as an essential aspect of the soundscapes he creates (more on this later). His isolation of contemporary rhythms in the source material displays an impeccable musical ear. Moments of the album sound like beatless grime or techno - not in a “YO kidz, Shakespeare was the original rapper!” kind of way - but in the startling, often illuminating fashion they summon connections between styles of the past and present. It’s also fascinating and joyful to hear, in this context, the early rave producers’ technique of pitching one chord or note across several pads / keys to create increments of the scale that shouldn’t really exist. No doubt this would discombobulate a classical purist to the point of distraction but it is a constant delight to hear this fairly un-musical production technique applied within a tuneful, meticulous and unfamiliar paradigm.

Another fine reissue of a Chicago classic from Jeff Craven and his Large Music imprint focusing again on the dynamic artistic team of Black Ice Productions. First released in 1992 on Velvet City Records, The Black Ice EP treads more into a deeper and jazzier vibes than their other outings at that time (such as the Union Camp release). A few listens and one can easily recognize the influence that all four tracks had on future labels and artists throughout the mid and late 1990's. This is timeless, pioneering Chicago deep house at its finest and a must have for all collectors.

Martha Argerich’s exhilarating early recordings, released here for the first time, include sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven that appear nowhere else in her discography; Prokofiev’s Third Sonata is also a recording première. This set displaying the young virtuoso includes her first recordings of Ravel’s Gaspard and his Sonatine, as well as Prokofiev Seventh Sonata, full of mystery and verve. They show her to be an eloquent and imaginative artist at the age of 18, already at the peak of her abilities. This release documents some of the radio recordings she made for North German (NDR) and West German Radio (WDR) in 1960 and 1967 and is released in time for her 75th birthday celebration on 5th June 2016.

Mit einem Fuß in der klassischen Welt und dem anderen im Rock - die Starviolinistin auf Solopfaden. Wenige Lebensläufe lesen sich so schillernd wie der von Fiona Brice. Als Violinistin stand die gebürtige Britin bereits mit Größen wie Kanye West, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Gorillaz und Robbie Williams auf der Bühne und zeichnete für zahlreiche Orchester-Arrangements für John Grant, Anna Calvi, Midlake, Placebo, Vashti Bunyan und Jarvis Cocker verantwortlich. Am 3. Juni erscheint nun ihr Debütalbum "Postcards From..." mit Eigenkompositionen bei Bella Union. Darauf nimmt uns Fiona Brice in zehn sparsam instrumentierten, aber dennoch sehr atmosphärischen, facettenreichen Instrumentalstücken mit auf eine musikalische Reise von Berlin über Sankt Petersburg und Tokio bis nach Denton.Color Vinyl LP+CD.

“Antiphon Stein” is a site-specific sound installation in the nave and choir of Minoritenkirche in Krems/Stein that engages with the architecture and sound of this church space. The material used are hanging and lying flat objects of glass and metal that are played with sound pressure transducers. These objects thus become membranes that resonate in their entire surface and mass, exuding sound to the surrounding space. The initial sounds for the installation are largely generated using a special four-channel recording technique; after the digital editing, they are left in their special four-channel arrangement, since capturing the sound from various spatial perspectives and distances allows an acoustic image of the existing space to emerge. The sound of the specific space thus plays a central role in the overall acoustic image.

Born in Oakland, CA, but raised in New Mexico, Partch learned mandolin, violin, piano, reed organ, and cornet as a child. Clearly a unique talent, even that early on, Partch went to USC Music School but was dissatisfied with his teachers, and instead studied music on his own where he learned to reject many of the Western constructs of music and began experimenting withusing scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first Western composers of the 20th century to use microtonal scales. These recordings were some of the first made after Partch settled in Sausalito and founded his legendary Gate 5 studio. Debuted in 1953 on KPFA radio, these compositions still sound otherworldly and cutting edge today. Essential American 20th Century composer Harry Partch, on Jeanne Dielman.

“Kontakte” (1959-60), Stockhausen’s first piece to use both electronics and traditional instruments together, marks a turning point in his career, when his music was beginning to show the influences of American avant-garde jazz and composers like John Cage. In “Kontakte” live musicians play alongside a tape recording of percussion sounds that have been altered by different electronic devices (i.e. a ring modulator or a reverberator). Stockhausen wanted the musicians to improvise over the prepared tape, but the musicians were at such a loss that Stockhausen eventually had to score the instrumental parts as well.

Performing on the Baroque cello (outfitted with gut strings and without an endpin, making it so that the performer has to clutch the instrument between the legs), Yo-Yo Ma delivers the warm, listener-friendly classical music that he has become known for. Ma presents a wholly unusual interpretation of some of Bach's better known Baroque works.

Having never met before going into the studio together, harpist Mary Lattimore and koto player Maxwell August Croy recorded an album in less than 48 hours, all live with zero overdubs. “Terelan Canyon” is a “new” sound built on interplay and improvisation that explores space and form, with virtually no ego, filled with sonic imagery and a tapestry of emotions. Epic and beautiful, this recording is a special moment captured in time. Mary Lattimore experiments with effects through her Lyon and Healy Concert Grand harp. Her latest solo harp record “At the Dam” was released in March 2016 by Ghostly International. Mary has recorded and collaborated with Thurston Moore, Kurt Vile, Meg Baird, Fursaxa, and Jarvis Cocker, among many and her harp/synth duo with producer Jeff Zeigler is currently working on a second record. Maxwell August Croy is a multi-instrumentalist whose work fluctuates liberally between melody, classicism and experimentation, all while attempting to harmoniously represent all three. A student of the piano, guitar and Japanese Koto, Croy has worked to expand the instrument's heretofore constrained vocabulary to settings outside traditional Eastern musics. He has released a number of full-length albums as a member of experimental ambient duo En with James Devane and has collaborated with musicians Tujiko Noriko, Sean McCann, Jared Blum and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, with whom he also co-runs the Root Strata label. This is a limited run of 500 copies.

French composer and Ondes Martenot virtuoso, Christine Ott releases her first full-length album since 2009 and her debut record for Gizeh Records. Only Silence Remains is beautifully melodic and filled with mystery, seeing multi-instrumentalist Ott performing on a variety of different instruments throughout the record.

The French-born Edgar Varèse (1883-1965), believed music to be both an art and a science. His pioneering use of electronic instruments like the theremin, along with his theory of “organized sound” has earned him the impressive title of “Father of Electronic Music”. Varèse spent the early twenties as a starving composer in NYC, writing works like the percussionless “Octandre” and “Intégrales”, his first piece to use the term “spatial music”. Upon returning to Paris in 1928, he composed the celebrated “Ionisation”, the first piece ever written for an entirely percussion ensemble (13 percussionist playing 40 instruments). His 1936 piece, “Density 21.5”, written for solo flute for the premiere of George Barrère’s new platinum flute, is one of the great masterpieces for unaccompanied flute. It is also one of the only compositions written by Varèse during this decade. His next major work, “Déserts”, was in fact not written until 1950. It was the first piece ever written for magnetic tape and orchestra and was meant to be the soundtrack to a film which would juxtapose images of actual deserts with images from past wars (the great ‘deserts’ of civilization).

Herbert von Karajan dirigierte in den 1960er Jahren weit mehr als nur Beethoven und Brahms. Auf hochwertigem 180g-Vinyl präsentiert die deutsche Grammophon mit Debussys sinfonischen Dichtungen „La Mer“ und „Prélude à L'Après-midi d'un faune“ zwei Herzstücke aus dem Oevre des französischen Impressionisten.

In dieser Aufnahme trifft überragende Tontechnik auf einen Pianisten auf der Höhe seiner künstlerischen Fähigkeiten und einen brillanten Dirigenten. Das Ergebnis ist ein Juwel im Katalog der Decca. Die Rachmaninoff-Klavierkonzerte und die Paganini-Rhapsodie, interpretiert von Vladimir Ashkenazy und dem London Symphony Orchestra unter André Previn gehören zu den ikonischen Einspielungen aus dem Haus der Decca. Auf drei Vinyl-Platten wird dieser Meilenstein nun in seiner originalen Erscheinungsform gefeiert.

The Harry Partch Ensemble, The Gate 5 Ensemble. Limited Edition LP release (180g vinyl) + free download card. Selecting illustrative works from the lifetime of a creative person is a daunting task; doing so with a singularly individual artist like Harry Partch is all the more difficult. In the more than four decades since Partch's death, interest in his both his life and his compositional output has continued to grow, and there remains a place for documents that can offer insights, suggest paths, and give new life to that creator's endeavors.Even as duplicate instrumental ensembles are beginning to appear, and the original Partch instrumental resources have found a new home for performance and study, there is considerable value in returning to the many recordings he crafted over his lifetime of composition and performance. These are recordings that carry not only the stamp of the author, but his voice as well - Partch himself appears in every single track of this record, either as singer, instrumentalist, or both.This remastered version of The Dreamer That Remains has never been available before and is making its first appearance in any format. The 12-page booklet includes an essay by the Harry Partch Foundation's Jon Szanto and numerous rare photographs provided by the foundation and other sources. An invaluable document for both Partch enthusiasts and neophytes! Limited to 700 copies.

Werktag / Chessex / Buess takes its roots in the Zurich based trio Werktag, initiated in 2012, and to which Alex Buess and Antoine Chessex are now both bringing their own contribution.Werktag (Tobias Gerber, saxophone; Rafael Rütti, piano; Sebastian Hofmann, drums) evolves in the tension field between written, experimental and improvised music and tends to have a weakness for the combination of acoustic instruments and live multi-track electronic music. As a result, the volume is sometimes pretty loud ; something Alex Buess and Antoine Chessex feel more than comfortable with. Belonging to two different generations of swiss musicians, they both find each other at the border of contemporary music, noise, hardcore, and free improvisation. Writting music is a part of both of their creative processes.

2LP collaboration between legendary cult director & the Polish concert pianist.

Seven old & new standout tracks by Henrik Schwarz, all revised using classical arrangements and instrumentation.180g transparent vinyl

180 Gramm Vinyl

First time on vinyl.Pressed on 180g audiophile vinyl.

Glassworks is the most pleasant craftwork ever from the great minimalist exploiter. Six warm pieces in a successful attempt to create a more pop-oriented work. Glassworks is another Music On Vinyl Classical release by this fantastic composer.180g audiophile vinyl.

PIANO INTERRUPTEDs debut album "TWO BY FOUR" ist eine Art musikalische Zusammenfassung der Entwicklung dieses Projektes der letzten drei Jahre.Was als reines Studioprojekt begann, basierend auf Franz Kirmanns Computermanipulationen der Klavierkompositionen von Tom Hodge, ist nun eine ausgewachsene Liveband mit Greg Hall am Cello und Eric Young als Perkussionist.Einige Tracks des Albums sind bereits in verschiedenen Versionen auf früheren EPs erschienen, passend zur Philosophie der Band dem Versuch der Erforschung, Veränderung, Wiederverwertung und Neuerschaffung nachzugehen.Das Album dokumentiert diese Reise und die Entwicklung der Musik über die Jahre. Dabei repräsentieren "Etude" und "London Waltz" eher die frühen Jahre von Piano Interrupted.Aufgenommen als ein Duo sind sie eine Mischung aus subtilen elektronischen Elementen, schiefen Rhythmen und ungewöhnlichen Zeitsignaturen.Die Melodien sind zweifelsohne eher kühl und halten sich gegenüber den elektronischen Arrangements im Hintergrund.Die weiteren Stücke sind als Quartett eingespielt und spiegeln die progressive Veränderung der Kompositionen durch Liveauftritte und Studioexperimente wieder.Drei der Tracks - Hedi, Hobi und Bulbus - zeichnen sich durch einen markanten tunesischen Klang aus.Piano Interrupted wurden gebeten, einen Soundtrack zu 'Papa Hedi', einem sehr persönlichen Dokumentarfilm über das Leben und Wirken des tunesischen 'Frank Sinatra' Hedi Jauni, zu schreiben.Dafür bekamen Piano Interrupted Zugang zu Hedi Jounis Originalaufnahmen. Samples seiner Werke wurden als Grundlage für die Kompositionen von Tom und Franz verwendet.Angesichts des filmischen Klaviers, der versonnenen Klanglandschaften und der zerbrechlichen und gebrochenen Melodien, die mit komplexen Rhythmusstrukturen zusammenprallen, ist es schwer den Musikstil von Piano Interrupted einzuordnen.Es gibt Anflüge von Minimalismus, Filmsoundtracks und filmischen Klanglandschaften, Glitch und Ambient, Post-Rock, neoklassischem Klavier und Jazz.Das Album, bislang nur in einer verkürzten Fassung als Kleinserie erhältlich, wird im April 2013 auf dem deutschen Experimentalmusiklabel Denovali erscheinen.Im Gegensatz zur früheren Kurzfassung auf dem Days Of Being Wild Label, enthält dieses Release insgesamt sechs Bonustracks: zwei weitere Stücke, "Occasional Blues" und "Nocturne", in der Frühzeit des Projektes als Duo aufgenommen und das bislang fehlende Stück von den Papa Hedi Sessions, "Foug".Schliesslich sind, als Zusammenfassung ihrer bisherigen Reise Liveversionen von "Etude", "London Waltz" und "Foug" enthalten, die bei ihrem Konzert im Radialsystem V Berlin im Rahmen der UM:LAUT Konzertreihe aufgenommen wurden.

Wonderful set of Old-school tinged House tunes, a dedication to Theo, Larry, Chez and all the legendary deep House cats.

Han Swolfs turns our senses to more classic and jazz infused pieces, improvised almost entirely on winged piano. “Gazebo Compositions” can be considered a resting point after Han’s more energetic electronic releases and grasps back to his roots. Inspired by a video-work by Jef Cornelis, Han translates moods and impressions of memories of his youth and his relation to the artist using a technique similar to Ecriture Automatique. Each note sprouts inspiration for the next one and composes the full story with uppers and downers. Belgian duality in it’s bloom for this summer release.Written and performed by Hantrax. Mastered at Dubplas & Mastering Berlin. Pressed on (180g) 12inch black vinyl with a video still cover taken from “De Koninklijke serres van Laken 1877-1902” made by Jef Cornelis in 1974. Packed in a silk-screened transparant over-sleeve.

Yo-Yo Ma Plays the Music of John Williams is a 2002 album of John Williams compositions performed by Yo-Yo Ma and the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles.The album celebrates its 15th anniversary this year and is now finally available on vinyl for the first time. A 4 page booklet with an extensive story written by John Williams is included.

Die legendären britischen Rough Trade-Shops starten mit "Behind The Counter" eine Release-Serie mit Einflüssen und Inspirationen ihnen beliebter Künstler. Den Anfang macht der in Berlin lebende, britische Neoklassik- und Filmkomponist Max Richter, der einen faszinierenden Einblick in seinen musikalischen Kosmos gewährt, aus dem er seine einzigartige, künstlerische Vision schöpft. Die 36-Track-Compilation enthält Musik von Mogwai, Boards Of Canada, Let's Eat Grandma, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Philip Glass, Aphex Twin und Low, sowie klassische Werke von Rachmaninoff und Bach.

Herbert von KarajanEin Heldenleben Op. 40

Classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein is famous for having self-released a successful album of Bach's Goldberg Variations in 2007, and has since gone on to release a string of critically acclaimed solo albums; she was among the top-selling artists on 2014's Billboard Classical Chart.

I Musici, founded in 1952, followed in the path of the Virtuosi di Roma. Felix Ayo, their first violin, had been the pupil of Remy Principe, concertmaster of I Virtuosi. I Musici were a sort of Young Virtuosi di Roma, cadets. At least this is how they were seen by the public, who adopted them the way mascots are adopted. I Musici later went their own way, at least in part, and took on Bach and Handel, Mozart (some splendid recordings of Divertimentos and Serenades), Haydn and Rossini, 20th century composers (Britten, Bucchi, Hindemith, Martin, Roussel), and even the late 19th century with the Little Suite Op. l by Carl Nielsen. More a string group open to a wide-ranging repertory than an ambassador of Italian music. But in the concert on this disk I Musici were still the cadets of I Virtuosi di Roma and offered a program composed entirely of 18th century music that culminated in Vivaldi. Typical of those years was the inclusion of a pre-classical composer - or Rococo, if you like - in a Baroque context.

Celibidache never conducted opera (perhaps a single Carmen, or maybe an act of Don Giovanni…) because, he said, opera performance is subject to too many approximations. Celibidache was the great conductor of Symphonies and Concertos and here, in this recital, his performance is the best. Featuring a sublime rendition of Shubert's "Unfinished", this is a magical recording with great sound.

Nathan Milstein was born in Odessa, Ukraine, in 1904. A virtuosic violinist, Milstein made his US debut in 1929 with Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He later settled in New York City and became an American citizen. On the first side here is his wonderful interpretation of Bach's Ciaccona. Using the general architecture of Ferdinand David's arrangement of the piece from the 19th century, Milstein reaches a peak in the second major part in an exciting and frenzied progression that shows impressive control of bow speed and vibrato. An emotional and impressive player and interpreter, and his perfomance here of Bach's Ciaccona, Partita in D minor for solo violin is one of the finest perfomances of his long and storied career. On the B side, Milstein is joined by the noted pianist Arthur Balsam for a recital of Beethoven's Spring: Violin Sonata No. 5 in F maj. Milstein's paying speaks volumes and this is a wonderful recital, though he may not be a household name, Milstein is a hero who deserves a place in the annals of classical music history.

According to Daniel Barenboim’s 75th birthday, Deutsche Grammophon presents this new edition of “Liszt: Wagner Transcriptions”, originally recorded 1982.The LP is pressed to 180-gram vinyl and comes with a new artwork.

Víkingur Ólafsson, born1984 in Island, is in his home country a well-known as acclaimed musician. He was awarded “Musician Of the Year” four times already.Now, Deutsche Grammophon presents his debut album with “Piano Works” by Philip Glass for solo piano.

Duvall Timothy isn't a musician. At least not in that conventional sort of way. No, Timothy's artistic expression is the sort in which all of his daily actions are intentional and each action reveals a small part of his large vision.He steps out for his day dressed in all blue: A statement of self. He chefs African cuisine: a medium to discover his heritage and share that heritage with others. And when he returns home, he plays piano.What you have here is an exploration in memory. Memories of classical, of jazz, and hip-hop. Fragmented into its elements, looped simply, and then reconstructed complexly.Timothy's compositions evolve the same way any meaningful memory comes back to the mind. At first in snippets looped in the minds fog. Then, as those fragments build, the scenes of the past rush back into full view. And as quickly as they appear, they dissipate away. Fleeting and substantial. But the simplicity is purposeful.And while Timothy is drawing from deeply personal experiences, his playing feels intimate and familiar because we've all felt the essence of memory: love and loss, joy and pain.So it's fitting that this be the inaugural offering from I Should Care Records. It's our hope that Brown Loop is as memorable and haunting for you as it was when we first heard it.

The second of two volumes! Edgard Varèse belongs to the generation of Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky and Anton Webern. Each of these composers produced music of extreme individuality, unlike what their contemporaries were up to, and marking a radical break with the music of the previous century.